iOS 6: Replying to Calls with Messages

By Melissa Holt

Sep 28th, 2012 8:28 AM EDT

In iOS 6, we can now brush people off—I mean, respond to our phone calls more effectively. You may have noticed that when someone calls you, there's now a new little phone icon right next to Slide to Answer.

HELLO? YES, THIS IS CAT.

Slide that phone button upward, and you'll see new choices. You can decline the call as before, send a message to the caller if you can't pick up the phone, or set a reminder to yourself to call the person back later.

Pick either of the latter two options, and the call is automatically declined with your caller being shuffled off to voicemail. If you've chosen Reply with Message, you'll see the following:

The first three selections there will send your caller a text message saying—well, whatever you chose from the list. Hitting Custom… will allow you to type in a new text message on the fly.

If you'd like to change these default messages, you can do so within Settings > Phone > Reply with Message. Just type over the existing ones, and you can be as asinine as you like.

Obviously, I can be pretty asinine.

If you choose Remind Me Later instead of Reply with Message, though, you'll be allowed to set either a time-based or location-based reminder to call the person back.

Here's something neat, too—within the Reminders app on the iPhone, the reminders you add like that will be formatted with a link as the title. Touching the link will call the person back right from that app.

That's all pretty cool, but I gotta say that it's getting harder and harder for me to avoid people completely. What's a socially awkward gal to do?